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Thursday, July 01, 2004
Apparently, MSN's new algorithmic search is available to the public for "feedback." Then it will go away and come back, better than before, they say.
I tried a wide variety of queries. The result - though not horrible - was unexciting and unimpressive.
On some queries, results were just weird and random. In other cases, goofy (Yahoo and Dmoz categories as results on MSN Search?) and possibly insincere. Having no apparently consistently methodology and bending over backward to be even-handed, is how I'd characterize this effort.
This might be a good way of mitigating spam, but does it lead in the direction of relevancy or special insight? Nope, but the blah-ness and inconsistency of the algorithmic results will certainly make the paid-for listings, when those are rolled out, look good by comparison. Perhaps that's the point.
To be fair, trying the same dozen-or-so searches (eg. "Montreal Canadiens logo") on Google and Yahoo yields a similarly capricious set of results. On my totally subjective assessment, though, at least on some queries, Yahoo's top couple of results feel a bit more definitive and relevant to me. Maybe part of the reason is the strength of Yahoo's proprietary, categorized directory -- much like the rover in hockey, the "forgotten man" in search.
Happy Canada Day!
Posted by
Andrew Goodman
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D'oh!
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